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The Watering Hole: March 3 – Fortitude

Mitt Romney’s recent display of (lack of) backbone gives one pause when considering that he would most likely be involved in international negotiations IF elected.

If Mitt were to enter in negotiations with another world leader, what would be the result if he displayed the same fortitude as he did on the contraceptive issue over the last few days. First, he was for it and then he was against it.

Now he does not understand the question.

He is behaving just as a milquetoast sissy would in changing an opinion after checking with ‘mommy’. I think that each of us has experienced such an individual at some point in our lives.

Suppose that President Romney (Please let me stand aside while I puke.) were to offer Beijing an overzealous promise in return for an extra filet steak (and perhaps a side of Beluga) at a state dinner in Beijing.

On an international stage, retakes can not be an option. This is a like live TV. There is little room for a do-over (Red Skelton excepted).

The nation could be placed in dire straits if the i’s and t’s are not ready for publication when an offer is made.

This is our Open Thread. It’s your thread as well.

Update – (03/02/2011 9:45 pm ZST): Perhaps Mitt is not one to rush to a dis-ingeniousness position. To this time, he has not offered either a nay nor an aye to the Limbaugh wasp nest.

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143 thoughts on “The Watering Hole: March 3 – Fortitude”

You raise a good point, Walt. How do we know that Mitt wouldn’t agree to something in a face-to-face meeting only to be “convinced” by Senate Republicans later that he took the wrong position?

In fairness, these details are usually worked out by aides ahead of time before any face time between the leaders is allowed, just to avoid such a scenario. But I wouldn’t be surprised if Mitt met with the Chinese Premier only to tell him, “I don’t know why my people told you I would agree to that. I can’t. It would hurt American businesses too much.” Of course, it’s hard to imagine a scenario where the Chinese agree to do something that would hurt American businesses, when we have a “U.S.” Chamber of Commerce telling American businesses that outsourcing to foreign countries is the way to go. (Outsourcing to the American companies is one thing, but not to foreign companies.)

Now, imagine something even more frightening: Imagine a President Rick Santorum negotiating with a foreign leader. Do you think someone like Santorum is going to let a little thing like facts get in the way of an opinion? I could easily imagine talks breaking down with the foreign leader telling the media, “We were unable to come to an agreement on the issues because one of us hasn’t been living in the same reality as the other. We can’t put together a treaty on Climate Change and Global Warming because President Santorum thinks that the Earth is just as God made it six thousand years ago.”

Could you imagine Rick Santorum in China with his view of contraception?
The Chinese don’t take too favorably to any religion unless it is state sponsored.
Bush gored their bull while visiting by insisting that he attend a christian church while there.
This constantly begs the question: Seriously folks, this is the best you have?

On Up, Tamara Draut from Demos, talks about ‘where there is growth, in jobs that can’t be shipped overseas, we’re going to have a decent quality of life in this country’.
There will be so much competition for those jobs, as there is right now, that they won’t be sustainable jobs, so how are they going to provide any quality of life?

Toss a guy into that mix. I’ve been saying much the same thing since I was in college (a LONG time ago!). The bible. The source of SO MUCH darkness. Emily Dickinson wrote about in 150 years ago, and her vision is still astonishing:

The Bible is an antique Volume —
Written by faded men
At the suggestion of Holy Spectres —
Subjects — Bethlehem —
Eden — the ancient Homestead —
Satan — the Brigadier —
Judas — the Great Defaulter —
David — the Troubador —
Sin — a distinguished Precipice
Others must resist —
Boys that “believe” are very lonesome —
Other Boys are “lost” —
Had but the Tale a warbling Teller —
All the Boys would come —
Orpheus’ Sermon captivated —
It did not condemn –

Creation of gods has been a human process, and as man has evolved, so have their gods.
The gods of early humans were constructs to anthropomorphize elemental forces. Fire, water, weather, fertility, etc.
Eventually these elemental gods were assigned gender.
The plethora of gods went to war with each other, their battles mirroring the basic human squabbles of tribe and family. This is particularly noticeable in the Greek and Roman pantheon. The Judeo – Christian god construct tried to simplify the whole mess by boiling it down to gender only.
Man created God in man’s image.
Not the other way around.

And in the process eliminated the female aspect of divinity, disenfranchising over half the population in one fell swoop for a couple millenia. Nothing like having an angry white guy in the sky to make a real viable religion.

It flies in the face of reason that so many right-wingers immediately believed that Andrew Breitbart had died and is now dead.

Medical/Scientific Fact as reported by the librul “lamestream” media: Breitbart is dead

Climate change? A hoax!
Brain-dead Terri Schiavo? Laughing and talking!
Iraqi WMDs? Real!
Separation of Church and State: A myth!
George Soros? Communist arch manipulator of US and global economies and politics and paymaster of an unemployed dirty fucking hippie army of freeloaders.
Political Representation: A fundamental right for religious white-skinned zygotes, the wealthy and corporations, but an undeserved privilege for anyone/anything else.
Jesus? Not a dead historical figure but a pervasive magical presence of salvation often manifested convincingly in various food-stuffs and other inanimate materials.
President Obama? A godless Kenyan Marxist Fascist white slaver Mau-Mau Indonesian Muslim terrorist sympathizer from the fictional state of Hawaii whose parents forged his birth certificate so he could destroy America with gay marriage and high-speed trains.

Again: Medical/Scientific Fact as reported by the librul “lamestream” media: Breitbart is dead

What is wrong with these Republicans? By their own logic Breitbart must not only be alive, but also actively creating a Mexican-less free-market gold-standard god-fearing Moon colony from which he can destroy lesbians, brown-poeple,scientists, Democrats and France (not necessarily in that order) —though come to think of it, that’s prpbaly why Breitbart was assassinated by Obama’s secret team of FEMA-camp abortionists.

Mellissa Harris-Perry didn’t have the best possible panel on what to do about fixing schools. Every mother on the panel had their kid in a private school or a charter school. No connection with reality.

The woman charged with ‘stealing’ her kid’s education by listing a false address to get him in a better district was fined the amount the education was worth. Wasn’t the kid supposed to have an education worth the same amount in the correct district? By doing this, didn’t the court admit that one district was worth more? I hope the ACLU handles her appeal.

Bill0 and inSeannity have jumped into the fray and taken the same position as Grampa Lardass. Please note that they are making the false claim that Ms. Fluke “wants the American taxpayer to pay for her having sex”. That is what they, in the Royal Navy, would call “a lie”. Is anyone surprised?

I think BillO specifically said it was appropriate to pay for Viagra. Rachel’s points are good: they’re doing this for the attention and they have no idea how human conception and contraception work. Limbaugh’s claim that they need more pills because they’re having more sex (more than him, for sure) is hysterically stupid.

They’re also working to distract their mouth-breathing audience from Fluke’s actual testimony and her study.

I must take issue with your use of the word, Grandpa, in your description of Mr. Lardass. One needs to have gotten someone pregnant and produced progeny that in turn produced progeny to be a Grandpa. Mr. Lardass does not qualify in this matter.

While true in the biological sense one can make the argument that Lushbo is the patriarch of Reich-wing hate speak. Lushbo came first, Bill0 and inSeannity and the rest of their generation followed, and now we have the youngsters like Dana Loesch and the awful women on FAUX”News” following along.

I’m extremely saddened … I know what having to put down a grand friend is like. The only comfort is in the knowledge that your friends no longer feel pain, that they are at last wrapped in nothing but enduring peace. Cherish your memories of them — they’ll never die.

His apology shows he still doesn’t understand what he’s talking about. he doesn’t understand how even celibate women might need to take birth control pills. If he thinks the only reason to take them is for contraception, then his apology means zero.

Rush still thinks that birth control pills are strictly for contraception. Joan Walsh said that only 40% of women who use them do so for contraceptive purposes. But Rush still thinks they’re all sluts and, because they expect others to pay for them, which is a flawed argument, “prostitutes.”

When we pay for health insurance, we all pay for all of us, and we all pay for the things others use that we don’t. It’s just the nature of how insurance works.

Once can be explained away as a “poor choice of words”. Three days running is a personal attack, slander, and defamation of character. His obvious intent was to cause as much harm to Ms. Fluke as possible. Plus, the “apology” has no meaning unless he makes it in the same venue, in front of his ditto heads, as he made the slurs. I would bet Mittens’ $10,000.00 that, if he mentions the apology on his show at all, it will be something like; “I apologized so it’s not my fault if everyone keeps whining about it”. By the end of a couple shows he will be painting himself as the victim.

This moron is against child abuse, but doesn’t mind equating them with wild animals and letting the starve.

I’m sorry, but I really have a hard time taking anyone seriously who has an accent like that. And what is it with repiggie women and sticking their kids out in front of them like that? Do they think they are warding off anyone who might be mean to them because they have children?

I disagree, Zooey. I’m tired of the victims of these fuckwits taking the high road. Ms. Fluke has the smarts to know what she’s getting into and the public support to actually shut one of these freaks down. It won’t matter how much Lushbo plays the victim when he joins Beckyboy in the limbo of a show that only exists as a website. A paid website that no one is willing to pay for.

What distresses me about that bit is that we have “drilled, baby, drilled” and gas prices have gone up. Unfortunately, no one in the “librul media” seems willing to mention that we are drilling more wells than the rest of the world combined and are producing record amounts of petroleum products.

I recently watched the entire set. The first one was a little hard to watch, what with the graphic sexual violence. I actually watched the second and third twice each, to note the difference between Swedish with English subtitles, and dubbed English. Well played, great story, and Lisbeth Salander can kick my ass anytime she has a notion.

This is just precious. Someone over at MMfA posted the TOU for Lushbo’s site. He wouldn’t be allowed to post on his own blog.

“Rush Limbaugh Facebook Rules for Commenting & Moderation Standards

The EIB Network welcomes your comments on the Rush Limbaugh Facebook Page. We intend to create a space for civilized and reasonable conversation. That does not mean comments will be free of disagreement, but it does mean that they will be moderated to prevent personal attack or threats, use of obscene or offensive language, invasion of privacy, commercial solicitation, use of multiple Facebook accounts, or other postings that we find disruptive.

When individuals violate these standards, we may delete their posts, or ban them permanently from posting on our Facebook page. We may maintain lists of individuals with deleted posts or who have previously been banned. Your decision to post a comment on our page is your permission for us to use and repurpose your comment as we see fit.”

The only polling I’ve seen, besides Georgia, is Tennessee and N.Carolina, where Santorum’s doing well. Alabama and Mississippi are the Tuesday after Super Tuesday. We’ll start to see the negative ads pretty soon.